Baby Steps
by Miss DiNozzo
Summary: Post Graceland, Paige and Mike become parents.
1. Chapter 1

"Mike." The sound comes as a small gasp, not loud enough to wake her sleeping husband. She doesn't dare move for fear of worsening the war being waged inside of her. The pain is intensifying, each burst coming closer and closer together, pushing her to her breaking point. At first, she had ignored the stabbing sensation, but after exactly two hours and thirty-four minutes of on and off simulated death, Paige is ready to do something about it.

" _Mike,_ " She tries again, carefully nudging his shin with her big toe. When he doesn't even stir, she is slightly less gentle. She twists her foot and calculatedly digs her nail into his skin, willing him to wake up. Mike's form is still and relaxed, without a care in the world as his wife's body is slowly murdering itself. _Well, not really my body,_ Paige thinks sardonically.

Unenthused, Paige drapes her arm over his face. Staring straight at the ceiling, she flicks his eye. Paige smirks at the immediate response she receives. Federal agents are normally light sleepers. The idea is to wake up before there's a bullet in your head, but her husband apparently hasn't caught on to that one yet.

"Ow! Shit! What the hell, Paige?" Mike curses, sitting up. He's about to rip into her about the proper etiquette for waking sleeping people but stops himself when he notices the rigidity of her body. Her eyes are wide in concentration, her jaw is clenched, and she's grabbing at the sheets with tight fists. "Paige? Are you ok?"

"Peachy," She bites out between barely parted lips. The pain is turning her inside out, attacking at full force. She has her eyes wide open but she sees nothing. She is literally being blinded by pain.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know, Dr. Mike. Wanna trade places and figure it out?" Her words are dripping with sarcasm. Paige lets out a gasp of breath she didn't realize she'd been holding when the pain subsides. Mike still looks confused and concerned, and since she knows how hard it is to be lucid at one something in the morning, she decides to slow it down. "Let's put two and two together, honey. I'm in pain, it's coming in short bursts every few minutes, and it's about fifty percent your fault."

The color drains from Mike's face as realization finally dawns. Paige takes a moment to feel bad for him—he looks like he's going to be sick—but can't be concerned for long. She knows they need to move and move _now._

"Food poisoning?" Mike jokes tentatively. Humor is his defense mechanism, and right now he's scared to death. "I mean, I did cook dinner last night…" He trails off after receiving a look from Paige that tells him now isn't the time to fool around. _She's right_ , He thinks. _She's in pain and I'm being insensitive. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid—_

"Get the stuff, Mike!" She shouts, interrupting his internal scolding. Mike jumps at the sound, sitting up straighter.

"Right." Realizing he must have been sitting idle for a moment too long, he shoots her a nervous smile and dashes out of the room. Paige lies there marveling at her husband and his idiocy. She's in labor and he's making jokes! Why did she marry him, again? Oh yeah. Because he's a great guy and she loves him. But still. Mike is back about eight minutes later with a satisfied smile on his face.

"The suitcases are in the car. The car seat is in the car. The snacks are in the car. It's officially time to get the baby momma in the car." Paige sits up carefully with a hand from Mike and he helps her put on her coat. She smiles a little because he probably already had the stuff in his car, and just did nothing for eight minutes to cover up that he was being Mr. Always Prepared for Anything. Damn him. She knew what she was getting into when they got married; he shouldn't be embarrassed by being himself. Besides, that's eight minutes they could have spent getting to the hospital.

"Get the birth plan. It's in the second drawer down on the left side of my desk. My phone's connected to the charger by the nightstand," Paige states in a forced tone as she sits back on the bed to face another contraction.

"How far apart are the contractions right now, babe?" A slightly muffled tone calls out to her. Paige can't really tell and she doesn't really care. She _hurts_.

Not getting a response, Mike quickly grabs the birth plan and rushes back to the bedroom. Slightly out of breath, he walks in to see his wife hunched over on the edge of the bed. He cautiously sits down and begins rubbing what he hopes are soothing circles on her lower back. When Paige sits back up and releases a puff of air, Mike is relieved that the contraction is over. He grabs her cell and slips it into his pocket. He helps her into her boots and lays a quick peck on her belly.

Helping Paige stand up, the two hobble out of the bedroom and out of the apartment. After double checking that the door is locked, Mike leads his wife to the landing before the stairs.

"No." Paige is putting her foot down. Stairs are completely out of the question. "There is no way in hell that is happening."

"But walking stimulates labor. We want that right? I mean the more you walk, the less time you're in labor and the less time you're in pain! It just makes sense and it puts less strain on the baby and—"

"We are taking theelevator, or I am not having this baby!" Paige shouts in frustration. Doesn't he understand what it's like? Wait…

"I don't think you really get a choice on that one," Mike ventures.

"Elevator. _Now._ " Paige's voice is low and menacing and Mike takes that as his cue to call the elevator. He leads her in and the doors close.

"Mike?" Paige asks in a matter of fact tone.

"Yeah?" He responds in a completely oblivious manner, eager to help her in any way possible.

"We aren't moving," She says after a long pause. "Did you press the button?"

"Of course I pressed the button," Mike scoffs, reaching behind his back to hit the button for the lobby. He'd like to blame it on the current time of day and a lack of sleep, but his all-over-the-place behavior is actually due to his internal panic. He can feel his hands shaking at his sides, so he clasps them together. "Ah. Here we go," He mumbles as the elevator starts to move.

 _Get it together, Warren,_ Mike thinks to himself. He's been under with incredibly dangerous people, seen the ins and outs of the underground drug rings, hell, he was even stabbed. And somehow he can't handle the woman he loves being in pain. _She's just your wife. This is just the birth of your child. Nothing to be afraid of._ He almost laughs at the last thought. Nothing to be afraid of? He has everything to fear.

The elevator lets them out at the lobby and Mike leaves Paige on a bench outside the building to go get his car. He almost sprints to the car, not wanting to leave Paige alone for long. He climbs into his black Kia and races around to the front of the building to fetch his wife and unborn child. Paige is patiently waiting for him, holding her purse with one arm and protectively wrapping one arm around her bump. Mike smiles before helping her get in and driving off.


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you need anything?" Mike asks after a few minutes of silent driving on the highway. Paige just shrugs before hunching over. "There are pillows in the back if—"

Paige holds up a hand to quiet him. She needs to be completely concentrated on breathing through the pain. A couple of moments later she's back up and running. "A pillow would be nice," She murmurs softly. Mike reaches back and hands her one, which she has reminded herself to thank him for later.

Mike moves to exit, and Paige is rather confused. She looks over to see that Mike is indeed not speeding, which means they must have just made _really_ good time. That's a reasonable enough explanation for her, so she relaxes back into her pillows. But when she sees the exit that Mike has prepared to take, she's concerned. He must be totally out of it. The exit they are supposed to take— and have taken once every three weeks for the past nine months—is nine miles ahead.

"Mike, this isn't our exit…" Paige trails off, attempting to politely point out her idiot husband's mistake. To her surprise though, Mike is just nodding like _she's_ the crazy one.

"I know," He mumbles as they follow the ramp out onto an empty street. Paige is now utterly baffled. What could possibly be more important right now than getting her and their child to the hospital?

She gets her answer when Mike slows abruptly and signals right into the parking lot of a rundown McDonald's. The place looks shady, but not near as shady as Mike is going to look when she's done with him. He seriously decided to stop and get an early breakfast while she's writhing in pain _right next to him?!_ She's fuming as Mike pulls up to the window and orders himself a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel and a large black coffee.

"Want anything?" He leans over and asks innocently, like he doesn't know what he's doing is the dumbest thing anyone has ever done. Like, ever. So she sweetly says no, mirroring his tone as the cashier tells him his total and moves him to the next window. Mike pays and Paige tries not to explode. Her contraction is really going, and dealing with her errant spouse isn't helping. It's gone as quickly as it came though, and soon enough they're pulled back onto the road and Mike is preparing to take a huge bite out of his bagel.

"Hey!" She swats his hand and then smiles hopefully. "Pregnant lady gets the first bite?" Mike smiles exasperatedly and hands the sandwich over, but Paige isn't done. "And sip," she declares taking hold of his coffee cup in her other hand. She takes a bite of the bagel.

"Mmmmm. This is really good," She murmurs contentedly. Mike lights up beside her.

"Really?" He asks excitedly because, throughout her entire pregnancy, Paige has been an extremely picky eater and finding things she would consider edible to make for dinner has gotten significantly harder.

"Hell no!" She shouts before tossing both the bagel and the drink out the window. If he has the nerve to stop for food on the way to the hospital, then she certainly has the right to throw the crap down the side of the freeway.

"What the hell, Paige? I just bought that! I was, you know, planning on feeding it to my stomach, not the damn hobo who'll find it and think he struck gold!" Mike's arguments are getting shaky, but it's really quite early, and he had been hoping the caffeine would wake him up so he didn't sleep through the birth of his first child.

"Seriously, Mike? You stopped for food? I'm in goddamn labor and you think you can stop for food?" Paige is finally releasing some of the anger she held in at the drive-through. Mike smiles sheepishly at his mistake. He had been worried about the crappy hospital food that he'd probably have to ingest at some point if he didn't stop for something along the way, instead of the fact that he was going because of his wife, who was still sitting in the front seat.

"Sorry," he mumbles like the fool he is, unable to come up with anything else to say. So, naturally, he starts talking out of his ass. "I just wanted you to be more comfortable. I know without food, I'll be cranky and probably annoy you, and I might not have the opportunity to eat at the hospital, and—"

"Shut up, Mike," Paige interrupts tiredly. "It's okay. I forgive you or whatever."

The next few miles pass silently and uneventfully, Paige trying to cool down and Mike trying to avoid another chastisement. When he works up enough courage to open his mouth again, though, he has a legitimate question.

"Do you want to call anybody?" Mike asks, remembering he should call the hospital to let them know they are coming. Paige quickly slaps her hand over her mouth and gasps.

"Shit! Do you have any idea what Charlie will do to me? I've been in labor for three hours and I didn't call her!" Paige is starting to hyperventilate, so Mike steps in.

"Hey! Hey. Calm down. If you just call her and Paul when we get there, I'm sure it won't be a problem," He talks to her in a comforting voice, as if to a child who was having a meltdown before realizing a key detail he might have missed earlier. "Wait, _three hours?_ "

"Eyes on the road!" Paige screeches in horror as the Kia veers towards the back of a semi.

"Shit!" Mike shouts, turning the wheel and narrowly avoiding a collision. "Sorry, Paige." He looks over quickly when he hears her breathing heavily. Another contraction. Mike makes a mental note that they're coming about six minutes apart.

Thirteen minutes later, they're off the highway and on their way into the hospital. Paige is screaming through another contraction when they go through the doors and they are immediately getting attention. Paige tries to have the presence of mind to remember that, but nurses are swarming around her.

Paige can hear Mike faintly over the buzz of the nurses' questions. "What's wrong?" "What hurts?" "Can you hear me?" She's suddenly feeling very claustrophobic and just wants them to get away. She'll gladly have the baby right there in the waiting room if all the nurses will just leave her alone.

Mike breaks through as her contraction ceases and manages to get her some space. He rubs her back gently.

"She's in labor. We need a wheelchair," He says with more ease than Paige thought it was possible for him to have. He did train to work well under pressure though, she supposes. _Where was this comfort about an hour ago, when he was flipping out at home?_ The nurses disappear and one returns with a wheelchair and instructions to go up to the fifth floor.

Mike pushes her down the corridor to the elevator and, remembering to push the button this time, they wind up in the lobby of the fifth floor. Mike must be panting louder than he thought because the nurses at the station quickly take notice of the new pair in their ward.

"Mike and Paige Warren?" The nurse asks from behind her desk. Paige nods emphatically and Mike states a confident "yes."

"Room 856. Down the hall and to the left," She mumbles with a slight smile that looks like half pity and half amusement. Mike has barely stopped to hear her words before they're speeding down the hallway and his comfortable façade is fading. He makes a sharp turn, eliciting a shriek from Paige.

"Mike! Slow down before you kill us all!" Mike laughs a little at this because, come on. 'Us all' usually refers to three or more people, and currently there's only the two of them but there's three at the same time. It's just funny to him. So he giggles, she claws his hand, and they get down to business in the room. A nurse comes in to hook Paige up to every monitor and IV under the sun, but after that, they are essentially alone.

"Do you want me to call everybody?" Mike asks after an agonizing minute of watching his wife play with the strings on her blanket. Having people around will keep her occupied and less bored. She nods vigorously and squeezes his hand. Mike manages to pry himself away before wandering into the hallway to make the calls.


	3. Chapter 3

Johnny and Lucia are beyond surprised by the early phone call, but ecstatic at the news. The conversation ends with promises to be there as soon as they can. Calling Jakes is better to be left until after the baby is born, for everyone's sake. Mike sighs and prepares for the call he's been dreading. He's tempted to call Paul so he can avoid the verbal beating he's sure Charlie will be giving him, but his fears of what she'll do if he doesn't call her directly are worse so he picks speed dial three and waits anxiously for her to answer.

"What the hell is it Mike?" Comes a groggy voice, thick with sleep. Mike panics for a moment.

"Hi Charlie. Um… Well… You see," He mumbles like a drunken idiot.

"Spit it out, Mikey," He can hear the sigh in her voice, see the hand over her face as she listens to him babble.

"Paige is in labor!" He blurts, all traces of his cool gone. There is silence on the other end and Mike's worried she's hung up on him. "Hello?" He musters, but the line is dead. She never was a morning person. Resigning himself to the fact that he is a total mess, he walks back into Paige's room. She's in the thick of a contraction and he's pretty sure if she squeezes the bedrails any harder they will shatter.

"Here, honey, take my hand," He offers to her in a soft voice. She doesn't respond, but grips his outstretched hand like it's all she has left. Mike tries to let the growing pain in his hand go unnoticed until the contraction subsides. When it finally does, she releases his palm and he shakes it out to get circulation going again. He absently wonders if that's how hard she holds her gun when she's in a stressful situation.

They continue in this cycle of hand-breaking and numbing for the next half hour or so, only interrupted by a nurse coming in to check Paige's dilation. She is a full four centimeters dilated when Paul and Charlie arrive. Of course, Charlie is a mess, laughing and crying and doing what any other woman would do. Paul is much more reserved, though, bordering on uncomfortable. Mike notices that Paul's hanging out by the door and really only halfway standing in the room. He motions with a little jerk of his head and he and Paul disappear into the hallway.

"How are you not freaking out right now?" Paul says once they're out of earshot. His eyes are wide and he looks like he's about to have a panic attack.

"Who says I'm not? Maybe compared to you, but…" Mike trails off with a little laugh. Paul rolls his eyes.

"I guess it just hit me that this'll be me and Charlie in a few months. I mean, this makes it all feel more real. We're going to be parents," Paul rakes a hand through his black curls as they walk into the elevator, laughing silently in a slightly hysterical fashion. "It's so crazy."

Mike is now totally gone. "Oh my god, you're right. I'm going to be a dad. I'm not ready for that! What if I forget how to change a diaper? What if I drop it? What if—" His words aren't even coherent anymore, just little mumbled nothings.

"We're so screwed," Paul's rousing words of encouragement send Mike over the edge, and he crumples to the floor in a heap, eyes wide. He'd probably fall over if not for the wall of the elevator. His legs are sprawled out in front of him and his head is leaned against the side of the car.

Just then, the doors open into the lobby and they face a large group of people waiting for a car. They all mechanically turn towards the door, prepared to go in, but they stop upon seeing the emotional breakdown taking place. Paul smiles his apology, trying his best to avoid the creepy stares he's getting from the group. He decides that he and Mike will get off on a different floor and take the stairs down. Preferably the basement. Or the roof. So long as it's deserted, Paul doesn't care. The doors are about to close when they hear a shout from outside.

"Yo, Briggs! Hold the elevator!" Johnny is weaving his way through the crowd, dragging Lucia by her hand towards the rapidly closing elevator doors. He gets his hand in just before the opening shuts and the doors recoil, widening quickly to allow them entrance. Lucia and Johnny rush in, the doors closing after them. "What's with Mikey?"

"Labor seems to have done a number on him. We got in here and he was fine, but about two floors in, he was having a full blown panic attack," Paul states matter of factly, ignoring the sounds of Mike's hyperventilation in the background as if they aren't there. "We elected to stay in the elevator until his emotional breakdown ceases."

"Ah," Johnny mumbles in understanding, turning around and sitting down next to Mike, leaning against him in a comforting gesture that realistically only he could get away with. Johnny manages to snake an arm behind Mike's back and pull him close in a hug, willing him to relax. The group remains in silence, the only sound being Mike's erratic breathing. And eventually, he does relax. The shaking subsides, his breathing evens out, and he's back on his feet.

They're out of the elevator soon after, walking the stairs down to the ground floor. Briggs leads the charge, Johnny trails behind, and Lucia flanks Mike, all of them prepared to catch him should his legs give out. Once the stairs open to the airy lobby, Mike is steered towards a bench and gently sat upon it.

"JT, get some water," Briggs instructs casually. "Mike? You need anything else? Something to eat?" Mike nods briskly at the mention of food. He's just now noticed how hungry he is. Briggs gives him two thumbs up and saunters away in search of something edible, leaving him and Lucia alone.

It's quiet for a moment when he leaves, and Mike revels in it. He's been surrounded by a lot of silence tonight, but that was a thick kind of soundlessness, filled with stress and anxiety. It was a _pregnant_ silence. Mike giggles a little at his own joke, which honestly isn't funny, but it's five-ish in the morning and his wife is in labor, so the idea that the quiet could be pregnant is mind-blowingly hysterical right now.

"Mike?" She snaps a finger and waves a hand in front of his face in an attempt to get his attention. He doesn't know how long he's been sitting there laughing like a mindless idiot at seemingly nothing, but it must have been a while if _Lucia_ is getting impatient. I mean, the woman married Johnny, and if that doesn't speak to the insane amount of patience she has, Mike has no idea what does.

"Huh? Yeah?" He manages. Lucia smiles warmly at him.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She mumbles with a tinge of concern in her voice. She pushes a stray lock of his hair out of his eyes and he nods his answer.

"Yeah, Luka. I'm okay. A little shaken up is all."

"It's okay to be scared, you know," a slightly mocking tone jokes. Mike giggles a little at that one, before swiftly moving to poke her in the side. His little giggle turns into a full blown laugh at the way she doubles over. They laugh together as she recovers her composure.

"I'm not scared. Intimidated? Absolutely. Anxious? Damn right. But _never_ will you see this tough guy scare at a little thing like childbirth." Mike grins at Lucia, but she doesn't really seem to be paying attention to him. Her gaze is glued to her buzzing cell phone.

"That's all well and good, Mike," She breathed out through a laugh before looking down. "But just so you know, if you don't get back in there soon, Paige is going to sic Charlie on you."

"Charlie? Yikes," He mumbles, smiling nervously. "Early morning Charlie?"

"Double yikes," Lucia finishes for him. "Go on up there. I can handle those two idiots for a little while." Mike kisses her cheek and thanks her before calling the elevator and making his way back into the labor and delivery room.


	4. Chapter 4

The nurse is checking Paige's dilation when he walks in and he's unsurprised to see Charlie hovering over the nurse's shoulder watching her every move.

"It's still looking like four," the nurse states, focusing more intently on her measuring.

"Really? 'Cause I see five. Let's just call it five," Charlie tells the nurse, winking at her slightly annoyed expression. The nurse raises a brow in her direction and she concedes. "Fine, fine, four it is. But you drive a hard bargain." The nurse laughs a little but snaps off her latex gloves and leaves the room.

"Well look who it is!" Paige marvels after a moment, finally acknowledging her husband's presence. "Did you get lost?"

"A little. Took a wrong turn at realization and wound up in panic attack." Mike states nonchalantly, wearing a sheepish smile. "Johnny talked me off the ledge, though."

"That's great, Levi, but I'm kind of in the middle of something over here," Paige speaks through gritted teeth, bracing herself for another contraction.

Mike is at her side in an instant, holding her hand and rubbing her back, hoping he is doing more good than harm. After a moment she relaxes, leaning over to give him a kiss on the cheek. He really is a good husband. He is difficult at times, like all people are, but she loves him anyway.

"On that note, I'm just gonna go and be anywhere but here," Charlie states uncomfortably, breaking the intimate moment. She walks across the small room before stepping out and walking down the hallway.

A few minutes pass in a comfortable silence, neither really feeling like words are necessary. Everything they need to convey is showing in their eyes, as if they are having a private conversation that the rest of the world is unable to hear. He leans over to rub her shoulders when the next contraction hits, the both of them staying quiet.

By now, it's almost half past three, and Mike is _exhausted_. He can't even imagine how Paige feels. He's having trouble keeping his eyes open. Part of him is embarrassed by his tiredness because his wife is going through possibly the most taxing of all life processes on hardly a wink of sleep and he's about to drop even though he has no right to, though technically he does have the right to since his wife being in labor doesn't make his sleeping illegal and he's, he's—

He's rambling.

Raking a hand through his disheveled hair, he does his very best to suppress the yawn. He's holding his breath, clamping his jaw closed, doing everything he possibly can. But still, the yawn escapes and he does his best to not be disappointed in himself. Paige looks at him with a tender gaze, concern flashing through her orbs for the first time since they woke up this morning.

"You should lie down, Mike," She mumbles at him, brushing a stray hair off his forehead. "You need rest."

"No, no," Mike protests weakly. "I want to be here for you and help you get through this." She looks at him a little and laughs.

"You're so stubborn. If it helps, they gave me some pretty good pain medication, so I'm going to try and get some rest, too. Please?" Paige pleads, and Mike groans a little to himself. He's recently had trouble denying his wife anything. Her wish is his command, and to be honest he's not against this, so he just slowly nods. Walking over to their bags, he pulls out a blanket for himself and turns out the lights. He stumbles half blindly to the couch on the other side of the room before collapsing on it and going to sleep.

When he wakes almost three hours later from his sleeping, Mike must admit that it helped. The lights are still mostly out, but a light has been turned on over the top of his wife's bed. She is no longer sleeping, and Mike takes a moment to wonder if she ever did go to sleep. Tricking him into sleeping was not something he would put below her, and while he appreciates it, his ego is still wounded.

Because seriously. Paige has been babbling on about doing this completely natural for the past three months almost nonstop because she's "a federal agent, god dammit," and she can handle the pain. And here he is, believing she had accepted pain medication so she could get some sleep. He's a federal agent too, so why can't he take the heat?

Internal conflicts aside, Mike takes a moment to really look at his wife. She is beautiful, so, so beautiful, reading the book he got her for Christmas with her arms resting on her baby bump. Her face is glowing with a kind of light that he's never seen before, and her eyes are shining with the same sparkle he saw in them the day he met her. She looks so relaxed, so at peace, so… happy. And it makes perfect sense. _Today is supposed to be the best day of their lives._

And damn it all if it won't be.

Mike sits up slowly as he sees Paige tense. He stands up and walks over to her as quickly as he can, sitting by her and rubbing her shoulders. She needs him right now as much as he's always needed her. So he'll be there. All is quiet until their OBGYN walks in.


	5. Chapter 5

"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Warren. Are we ready to have a baby?" Dr. Mark Aldridge asks level-headedly, the air of professionalism he wears faltering as he gives Mike a hug and Paige a warm smile.

"So, so ready doctor," Paige breathes, head resting back on her pillow.

"Good attitude, Paige. Keep it up and I just a few hours, you'll be holding your little—"

"Shush shush shush shush shush!" Mike interjects suddenly, preventing the doctor from spilling the gender of their baby. He and Paige had decided long ago that they wanted to wait to find out, feeling that it was a more genuine experience. It was easier to know, yes, but it made the day of the birth even more incredible and both of them wanted that.

"Nice catch, Mike," Mark comments as he slips on a pair of latex gloves. "I almost slipped up just there. Alright Paige, we're gonna see how far along you are." He takes his time measuring her before concluding that she was barely seven centimeters dilated and leaving the room.

The next few hours pass uneventfully, and just before ten that morning, Mark declares proudly that Paige is fully dilated and ready to push. He leaves the room and the exhausted couple.

"You hear that, baby? You're almost done," Mike articulates quietly, rising and walking over to sit next to her on the bed. He has no idea why, but there are tears streaming down her face. "What's wrong, P?"

She reaches up to wipe the tears from her face, turning away. Mike knows this all too well. She's trying to hide from him, trying to hide the feelings he learned to read in her long before. And Paige guesses a part of her knows that he won't let her get away, but sometimes pretending is her only sanity. She imperceptibly sighs as he reaches his hand under her chin and turns her to face his concerned gaze.

When she finally looks up at him, she nearly gets lost in the seas of blue that are his eyes. Those blue eyes that could never tell her a lie… They're fixed on her now, seeming to search deeper than her surface into parts of her that she had thought no one else could see. But of course Mike could see them. He always could.

"I'm scared," She whispers through the thickness in her throat. This is something unlike anything she's ever experienced before, something she can't just be trained for. She stifles another sob, shaking as a tremor rolls through her body.

That's when he wraps his arm around her and presses a kiss to her temple

"It's gonna be okay, I promise. I will protect you and this baby. We will always be okay," He whispers to her. And for once, she feels like can believe him.

The next hour is a blur of frantic nurses and hasty preparations. Mark is in and out of the room at least three or four times, making sure that everything is exactly where it needs to be. That's what Paige remembers.

Then she is pushing. It's a pain even worse than the labor she just endured, and she's exhausted. And she's crying and Mike is counting and she's screaming by the time he hits ten and then she's quietly sobbing and she's just so goddamn _tired._

"I can't do this!" She hushes out through her sobs. "I can't!"

"No, no, baby, you're good. You're almost done. You can do this, come on," Mike is rambling but she can't hear him. She's surrounded by pain. She's tired. She can't.

"No! I can't!" She looks at him desperately, begging him to tell her it was okay to stop. That she could be done. That she didn't have to do this anymore. But he just gives her a reassuring smile like always, and tells her he is going to count. She pushes with all she has left (which isn't much). She screams and cries and pushes. And then, everything stops.

"It's a girl, Paige," And in those words that her husband speaks, she hears the most tender wonder, incredulous awe, and unyielding love. A cry pierces the air and Paige exhales a sigh of relief, tears still streaming down her face. Before she knows it, there's a precious little bundle lying on her lap.

"So beautiful. So beautiful," is all Paige can manage to say through her tears. She has a daughter. She and Mike have a daughter. Mike cuts the umbilical cord and they dry her off, wrapping her in a pink receiving blanket and handing her to Paige.

The child is tiny, with little fingers attached to equally little arms. Her skin is pale and her hair light, her eyes the brightest of blues. _Mike's eyes._ Paige gapes for a moment in awe at how beautiful the baby girl resting in her arms is. And she is _hers_. She made this little miracle. She and Mike. She doesn't want to take her eyes off of the child, afraid that if she looks away the baby will disappear, but she looks up at the sniffing sound coming from the man beside her.

Mike is crying, tears rolling down his face. He is wearing the biggest smile she's ever seen, beaming with pride and joy. Paige knows Mike must be feeling the amazing things she is feeling too. It reminds her momentarily of how overjoyed he had been the day they found out they were pregnant, kissing her and telling her how much he loved her. And now his love, the incredible love that he'd showered on her since the day they met, was going to be showered on their little girl, too. Nothing could make her happier.

She passes the newborn to her husband without another thought, and the tender way he takes the infant in his arms swells her heart. His eyes are locked on his daughter, unmoving as he gasps for air through his sobs. She is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen, so small and so big at the same time, a simple beauty about her, just like her mother.

"Annika Marie," He breathes, his heart racing. "I love you so much." He strokes the side of her face with his finger, moving slowly and absorbing every single thing about this moment. This six pound, nine ounce miracle is made of his flesh and his blood, and in her little face he can see nothing but the future.

His fingers slow as they reach Annika's palm. Her tiny fingers wrap loosely around his, and Mike can't help the tears that continue to stream down his cheeks. His universe has shifted in a matter of moments and he owes it to this fragile little human, his baby girl.

"Annika Marie Warren," Paige allows the name to roll off of her tongue as she watches the two most important people in the world to her. Mike and Paige had picked out a name for a boy and for a girl, so either way they were prepared. Annika had been a tip to Mike's English and Dutch heritage and Marie was in memory of Paige's grandmother. She feels the name cross her lips once more and she knows without a doubt that it is perfect. Everything is perfect.


End file.
